University of Alabama advertising and public relations students create cool campaign

UA seniors pitch ideas to yogurt chain

By Patrick RupinskiBusiness Editor

Published: Saturday, June 29, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, June 29, 2013 at 12:22 a.m.

Some UA seniors majoring in advertising and public relations got more than hands-on experience and a good grade when they designed an advertising campaign for a young frozen yogurt chain this spring.

They convinced top executives of the company that owns the chain to use some of their ideas.

“The students surprised us with their research, and they gave us invaluable information,” said Jeff Pizitz, president of Birmingham-based Pizitz Management Group. “It was a great experience to work with enthusiastic students.”

Pizitz Management’s holdings includes 32° A Yogurt Bar, a chain it founded in 2010 that now has 21 stores in nine states. Pizitz Management is owned by members of the Pizitz family, who once owned a chain of Pizitz Department Stores in Alabama, including department stores in Tuscaloosa.

Each year, UA’s advertising and public relations department offers the class in which seniors put together an advertising-public relations campaign for a business, said Lance Kinney, an associate professor in charge of the class. The students get to use what they have learned in their previous classes to put together a campaign just like they would if they worked for an advertising and public relations firm, he said.

Kinney serves more as a mentor to the students, monitoring their progress and posing questions for them to consider. The students divide into four groups of about five with each group developing its own campaign.

The students examine their client company, visit its stores and interview its executives as they design their campaign, he said. Each group formed its own mini-agency with a copywriter, account executive, art director, media director and public relations and event planner.

At the end of the semester, each group gave a formal presentation to the company’s executives. The students had to wear suits and business attire when they went to the company’s headquarters for their presentation, Kinney said. A third of their grade for the course comes from the business executives they met with. Another third of the grade came from Kinney who evaluated the students’ 50-page plan book, and the last third came from their peers.

The department has offered the class to its graduating seniors for years, Kinney said. Usually the students will be assigned to a small business. In the past, they have designed campaigns aimed at getting customers to buy the businesses’ products or services.

This spring, the assignment took a different twist. Instead of doing the usual company-to-customer campaign, they did a business-to-business campaign aimed at individuals and firms looking at franchise opportunities.

“This was much more challenging,” Kinney said. “It required the students to do more of the business side.”

Those who take jobs in advertising and public relations firms will find that business-to-business campaigns are more common than campaigns aimed at consumers, he said.

Jenny Buha, director of development and marketing for Pizitz Management, said among the students’ ideas that the company has already implemented are putting stickers on its stores’ topping bars promoting franchising and hiring one of the students as an intern to develop social media and other marketing aimed at potential franchisees.

<p>Some UA seniors majoring in advertising and public relations got more than hands-on experience and a good grade when they designed an advertising campaign for a young frozen yogurt chain this spring.</p><p>They convinced top executives of the company that owns the chain to use some of their ideas.</p><p>“The students surprised us with their research, and they gave us invaluable information,” said Jeff Pizitz, president of Birmingham-based Pizitz Management Group. “It was a great experience to work with enthusiastic students.”</p><p>Pizitz Management's holdings includes 32° A Yogurt Bar, a chain it founded in 2010 that now has 21 stores in nine states. Pizitz Management is owned by members of the Pizitz family, who once owned a chain of Pizitz Department Stores in Alabama, including department stores in Tuscaloosa.</p><p>Each year, UA's advertising and public relations department offers the class in which seniors put together an advertising-public relations campaign for a business, said Lance Kinney, an associate professor in charge of the class. The students get to use what they have learned in their previous classes to put together a campaign just like they would if they worked for an advertising and public relations firm, he said.</p><p>Kinney serves more as a mentor to the students, monitoring their progress and posing questions for them to consider. The students divide into four groups of about five with each group developing its own campaign.</p><p>The students examine their client company, visit its stores and interview its executives as they design their campaign, he said. Each group formed its own mini-agency with a copywriter, account executive, art director, media director and public relations and event planner.</p><p>At the end of the semester, each group gave a formal presentation to the company's executives. The students had to wear suits and business attire when they went to the company's headquarters for their presentation, Kinney said. A third of their grade for the course comes from the business executives they met with. Another third of the grade came from Kinney who evaluated the students' 50-page plan book, and the last third came from their peers.</p><p>The department has offered the class to its graduating seniors for years, Kinney said. Usually the students will be assigned to a small business. In the past, they have designed campaigns aimed at getting customers to buy the businesses' products or services.</p><p>This spring, the assignment took a different twist. Instead of doing the usual company-to-customer campaign, they did a business-to-business campaign aimed at individuals and firms looking at franchise opportunities.</p><p>“This was much more challenging,” Kinney said. “It required the students to do more of the business side.”</p><p>Those who take jobs in advertising and public relations firms will find that business-to-business campaigns are more common than campaigns aimed at consumers, he said. </p><p>Jenny Buha, director of development and marketing for Pizitz Management, said among the students' ideas that the company has already implemented are putting stickers on its stores' topping bars promoting franchising and hiring one of the students as an intern to develop social media and other marketing aimed at potential franchisees.</p>